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Woman sentenced for stealing wedding ring from nursing home resident

A former Red Wing nursing home employee was sentenced Monday, Sept. 19, in Goodhue County District Court after pleading guilty to a pair of theft charges including stealing a resident's $4,000 wedding ring and bringing it to a pawn shop in 2015.

Erin Kyla Russell, 25, of Hastings, pleaded guilty June 20 as part of an agreement for the wedding ring theft that will have the felony deemed a gross misdemeanor instead. A 353-day sentence was stayed for two years of supervised probation and 12 days local confinement to be served over four consecutive weekends. Russell also was ordered to 100 hours of community work service.

In a separate case, Russell pleaded guilty and was convicted of misdemeanor theft from an incident that occurred Jan. 27, 2015, in Red Wing. She was sentenced Monday to an additional year of probation.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to St. Brigid's at Hi-Park in July 2015 by a woman who reported her great-aunt's wedding ring was missing. The victim, Alice Tackaberry, was described as "always in a sleeping state." She died Aug. 17, 2015, at age 94.

Officers later recovered the ring from a Red Wing pawn shop along with camera footage and a receipt. Russell's name was listed on the transaction and nursing home staff identified Russell as the woman in the video. Russell was working on the date of the transaction and would have been on her lunch break at the time, the charge states.

The maximum penalty for felony theft is five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

Michael Brun joined RiverTown Multimedia at the Red Wing Republican Eagle in March 2013, covering county government, health and local events. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls journalism program.